[greco_sti]

to cut it short, i have a 2005 STi and i got into an accident. I was running aftermarket wheels.. ruinned all 4 wheels and my insurance is only paying me 1k for all of them.. arent they supposed to replace it not lower than my stock wheels?

anyone who can suggest or recommend anything for me to do? TIA

[fourseasonsandles]

This is true if it was your own insurance that was covering your damage. You only pay to insure a stock vehicle and that is all your insurance company will cover.

Now if the other driver is considered at fault for the accident, the other insurance company should pay for your vehicle and include something for your mods. It will not be anywhere near what you paid for them, but will be handled in a decreased value, just as your car is.

[greco_sti]

but the thing i don't get is whats the difference if i was running with my stock and got damaged? they're still goin to pay the price of my stock wheels right? i believe, 1k each at least instead of giving me 1k for four of them?

[fourseasonsandles]

How many miles do you have on your STI? That makes a difference in how much they will pay you. You dont get the cost of new wheels, they will only pay you the value of the wheels at a reduced value.

Think of it like this. If you total your car, they arent going to give you $35k or what you paid for your car brand new. They are only going to pay you what your car is worth now.

Stock BBS rims usually go for around $600-$800 a set for take offs in good condition. I think $1000 is a good offer.

[greco_sti]

32k miles. exaclty! thats the original bbs price. and i forgot to mention that my tires were also damaged(a week old)..

bbs rim + potenza = 1k/each
insurance willing to pay = 250/each

so i guess 250 is not even close to half the price of the original set.

i might end up getting rotas but still wanna fight for it tho.

[honeybadger]

THey are allowed to give you the price for a used set of wheels in comparable condition. I think you should be pretty happy with the 1k you got. Next time declare your wheels as aftermarket accessories if you want them to be covered for their full value.

[Iron Giant]

I respectfully disagree with what the others posted. After all, if someone dented your fender, is the insurance company going to try to pay you for a used fender? I don't think so...they simply pay what it takes to fix the problem.
If you are not at fault, and you disagree with the estimate for repairs, you can take it to a body shop that you trust for an estimate. You can show the insurance rep the new estimate and insist that the work be done by your shop. If they don't agree you can take legal action.
It is your right to choose who works on and repairs your car (even if you are at fault). Look at it this way- if you bring your car to a shop to bring it back to it's pre accident condition, what are they going to do with the $1000? can they buy the wheels that you had on the car? can they put the stock wheels on the car? if they can't do either what the hell are they supposed to do?
The average person doesn't look at the costs, they just want their car fixed. If the insurance company won't pay enough to get the car fixed then they would be very angry.
Here is some more info- Car Repair Estimates

[STiAholic05]

I feel for you man...but ya gotta look at it this way. Insurance companies are in the business to make money....PERIOD! If you want to fight them then by all means go for it....but insurance companies have lawyers up the A$$ and they are happy to fight you in court and tie things up however long it takes for you to see it their way. I am not saying $1000 is fair but what you need to do is provide some documentation for what it cost you for the wheel/tires. If they are 4 grand worth of wheels tires and you can prove this they still won't cut you a check for the "new" value of them but they might up the check a bit. Being that you said "your" insurance company is paying you $1000 I have to assume that you are at fault. Like posted before $1000 is reasonable for a set of stock rims and tires. Insurance companies are not ATM's and if you were running an expensive aftermarket set of rims and had not stated this on your policy, (hence you would have been paying more for your policy) it sounds fair to me. How did all four rims and tires get ruined and the car is not totalled anyway? WTF happened man??? Like I said.....I feel for ya but when the estimate was wrote up I am sure they accounted for a stock rim/tire set up!!!

[fourseasonsandles]

First off this thread is 2 months old and I am sure this has already been handled by now.

Originally Posted by Iron Giant

I respectfully disagree with what the others posted. After all, if someone dented your fender, is the insurance company going to try to pay you for a used fender? I don't think so...they simply pay what it takes to fix the problem.
If you are not at fault, and you disagree with the estimate for repairs, you can take it to a body shop that you trust for an estimate. You can show the insurance rep the new estimate and insist that the work be done by your shop. If they don't agree you can take legal action.
It is your right to choose who works on and repairs your car (even if you are at fault). Look at it this way- if you bring your car to a shop to bring it back to it's pre accident condition, what are they going to do with the $1000? can they buy the wheels that you had on the car? can they put the stock wheels on the car? if they can't do either what the hell are they supposed to do?
The average person doesn't look at the costs, they just want their car fixed. If the insurance company won't pay enough to get the car fixed then they would be very angry.
Here is some more info- Car Repair Estimates

You have got most of it right. See my post above. If the other person is at fault, their insurance will pay to get the OP back to pre-accident condition, whatever the cost unless the car is a total loss. If the OP was at fault and he did not schedule his aftermarket rims on his policy (Translation: declare them on the policy to have them covered), then his insurance company is not going to pay a higher amount for the after market rims. They are only going to pay the decreased value of what the stock rims would cost. $1000 for a used set of stock BBS rims is more than fair.

You are correct that you can chose your own body shop to do an estimate and the repair, but in the end, it is the insurance company that writes the check and even if your body shop has a different estimate, the insurance company is most likely only going to pay what their estimate was. Regardless if it is higher or lower than your body shop.

Now, back to the rims. Let's just say for arguments sake that the OP had damaged all 4 stock rims beyond repair. The insurance company is still only going to give him the reduced value of a set of undamaged rims. In this case $1000. Now the OP can go out and find a set of used stock rims for whatever price he wants and buy them. Sure this wont buy him brand new stock rims, but you have to remember he didnt have brand new rims to begin with. If they paid him the amount for a brand new set of rims, the OP would be making a profit and that is not what insurance is about.

Back to the fact that the OP had aftermarket rims, my first paragraph applies. He isnt paying insurance premiums to cover his car + aftermarket rims. He is only paying insurance for a 100% stock car and that is all his insurance company is going to work off of. This is also true even if he had $100,000 in mods. He still only pays for a stock vehicle and that is all his insurance company is going to cover.

I hope that made sense.

Originally Posted by STiAholic05

I feel for you man...but ya gotta look at it this way. Insurance companies are in the business to make money....PERIOD! If you want to fight them then by all means go for it....but insurance companies have lawyers up the A$$ and they are happy to fight you in court and tie things up however long it takes for you to see it their way. I am not saying $1000 is fair but what you need to do is provide some documentation for what it cost you for the wheel/tires. If they are 4 grand worth of wheels tires and you can prove this they still won't cut you a check for the "new" value of them but they might up the check a bit. Being that you said "your" insurance company is paying you $1000 I have to assume that you are at fault. Like posted before $1000 is reasonable for a set of stock rims and tires. Insurance companies are not ATM's and if you were running an expensive aftermarket set of rims and had not stated this on your policy, (hence you would have been paying more for your policy) it sounds fair to me. How did all four rims and tires get ruined and the car is not totalled anyway? WTF happened man??? Like I said.....I feel for ya but when the estimate was wrote up I am sure they accounted for a stock rim/tire set up!!!

Some insurance companies and adjusters will work with you. Even thought it is not written in the policy, they may pay you a bit more if you did have after market parts on your car. I know this contradicts what I had posted above, but it is on a case by case bases and has to do with what the adjuster and his management will allow.